TDP Supremo Chandrababu Naidu is worried man as five of his MLAs had defied the party’s diktat of abstaining from the Presidential poll and participated in the voting. It is learnt that all the five defiant MLAs had voted for the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee, whom the party opposed vehemently.

Though it is not a surprise that these – MLAs Kodali Nani, Bala Nagi Reddy, Hariswar Reddy, Samudrala Venugopalachary and Chinnam Rama Kotaiah have been distancing themselves since quite some time, Naidu had not expected this brazen defiance of his authority. He is now worried on knowing that four of these MLAs were planning to join the YSR Congress, while Chinnam Rama Kotaiah, the fifth has planned to join the Congress.

Chinnam has initially tried to join the YSR Congress party. However, when the party could not assure him the Nuzvid seat from where he won in 2009 as TDP candidate, he has decided to join the Congress, after getting assured of the ticket. He has earlier declared to the shock of Naidu that he would not contest from Nuzvid as TDP candidate even if the ticket was offered to him, as there was no chance of winning. Bala Nagi Reddy has been critical of the TDP leadership and the party has already asked the speaker to take action on him.

Bala Nagi Reddy has been maintaining close relations with the YSR Congress party. Hariswar Reddy and Venugopalachary have been sailing with Telangana Nagara Samiti leader Nagam Janardana Reddy, protesting against the attitude of Naidu on the Telangana issue. However TDP leadership has not so far taken any firm decision to discipline these two. Now that they have openly defied Naidu’s authority, it has become imperative for him take some firm action to curtail indiscipline spreading to other ranks of the party. Though the party could not issue any whip with regard to the presidential poll as it was apolitical and could not hence take disciplinary action on that count, it may take action on some other count at the earliest say sources.